Rapid photolithographic fabrication of high density optical interconnects using refractive index contrast polymers
Abstract
We have developed new polymer optical interconnect materials that we term refractive index contrast (RIC) polymers that are ideally suited to a wide variety of photonic interconnect applications as the refractive index can be tuned over the range of n = 1.42 to 1.56, while index contrast Δn can be precisely tuned through composition and ultraviolet exposure; the waveguides can be directly patterned in dry films with no wet or dry etching processes required. RIC polymer interconnects thus have the ability to access numerous photonic platforms, including silicon photonic chips, ion-exchange (IOX) glass optical substrates, and optical fiber arrays. We demonstrate for the first time efficient single-mode polymer interconnect fabrication via a maskless lithography approach that exhibits low loss adiabatic coupling (∼1.5dB at 1550nm) to IOX waveguides through the formation of grayscale tapers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Apr 13, 2022
- Source ID
- 10.1364/ome.454195
Entities
People
- Abhinav Nishant
- Jeffrey Pyun
- Julie I. Frish
- Kaitlyn P. Martin
- Kyung-jo Kim
- Lars Brusberg
- Linan Jiang
- Robert A. Norwood
- Roland Himmelhuber
- Sasaan Showghi
- Stanley Pau
- Thomas L. Koch
- Tristan S. Kleine
Organizations
- Air Force Research Laboratory
- University of Arizona